Donne's Sonnet #5

A detailed Summary of Donne's Sonnet #5

Donne's Holy Sonnet Five confronts multiple inner spiritual and physical struggles while twisting together the struggles between science and religion. With the author claiming himself as a "little world," he uses the metaphor to tie together both his physical and the spiritual struggles with evil. The poem then becomes not just a personal piece but a religious political one confronting the new discoveries of the world. Donne's cunning battle between himself and evil seems to reflect nicely with his concern of science's new discoveries. He ends his poem echoing the passage from Psalm 69.9 and showing the weave of the three fires found within himself and within the path of God's ways.

The sonnet is a variation of the Italian octave form. It is syntactically organized and doesn't rhyme. The author has distorted the traditional stanzaic patterns by making the last two quatrains five lines and deleting the ending couplet.

The author uses the first quatrain to introduce him as if he was an actual world thus playing on the scientific concept of a world made "of elements," and a world composed of spirituality:

But black sin hath betrayed to endless

And burn me, O Lord, with a fiery zeal

You which beyond that heaven which was most high

Pour new seas in mine eyes, that so I might

The last quatrain is where the author steps into the pages of the bible and echoes the passage from Psalm 69.9:

And made it fouler' let their flames retire,

My world's both parts, and O, both parts must die.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sonnet Five, lust envy, pour seas, psalm 699, little world, world cunningly elements, passage psalm 699, lust envy burnt, concept world, fiery zeal, passage psalm, world cunningly, world elements, angelic sprite,

Approximate Word count = 923
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Donne's Sonnet #5

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